It looks like you've been misled about the US. The US welfare budget is mind-bogglingly large, over a Trillion dollars per year. Yes, Trillion with a T. Health

It looks like you've been misled about the US. The US welfare budget is mind-bogglingly large, over a Trillion dollars per year. Yes, Trillion with a T. Healthcare costs can be very important for Americans working in low-wage positions, but are essentially irrelevant for tech workers. Here's how healthcare costs impact my life on an hours-worked basis: Monthly health insurance premium: 20 minutes of my wage per month Office visit at a primary care doctor: 12 minutes of my wage Office visit at a specialist: 15 minutes of my wage Maximum amount I can possibly pay in a year (eg, if I get in a car accident and spend months in intensive care): 20 hours of my wage To be clear, the American who is driving Uber full-time or cooking food at McDonalds would have a drastically worse situation, and their costs might be multiple hours worked to see a doctor or multiple weeks of wages to cover a catastrophic hospitalization. But on a tech salary, healthcare is trivially covered.